Category: How Old Were They

Louis Braille invented the Braille Language For The Blind at 15. Born in France in 1809, he was blinded at the age of 3. While a student at the Royal Institute for Blind Youth in 1824, he met Charles Barbier, an officer who had developed “sonography,” a system of written communication based on raised dots. Though the system was developed with the French Army in mind, Braille believed a similar method could be used by people who were blind and created what is now known the written language named for him. Read Who Cares? about the struggle for dignity at “a lively place where old people go to die.” Learn more about the book and its characters, aged 9-90, in NOVELS.

Braille’s language of raised dots enables the blind to read

Woodruff Home for the Aged, a lively place where old people go to die

Folk artist Grandma Moses (born Anna Mary Robertson Moses) began painting at 76, when her arthritic hands could no longer embroider. Not one to sit around idly after a life of farm work, she took up painting. She never had any formal art training, or much education at all, but an art dealer passing through her town of Eagle Bridge, NY saw her works in a drug store, bought them for a few dollars, and arranged to have them shown in the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. At the time of her death, more than a thousand canvases later, she had paintings in museums as far away as Vienna and Paris. Grandma Moses died in 1961 at the age of 101. Read Who Cares? about the struggle for dignity at Woodruff Home for the Aged, “a lively place where old people go to die.” Learn more about the book and its characters, aged 9-90, in NOVELS.

You’re never too old to take up a new hobby

Woodruff Home for the Aged, a lively place where old people go to die

My novel Who Cares? which arrives December 02, 2025, is about the struggle for dignity at Woodruff Home for the Aged, “a lively place where old people go to die.” The characters range in age from 9 to 90. This new series of posts reveals the amazing things done by people of all ages, from infants to centenarians. Read more about the book in NOVELS and enjoy the posts!

How old were people when they did noteworthy things?

Welcome to Woodruff Home for the Aged, a lively place where old people go to die

Fittingly, the “Famous Friends” posts to promote my novel The Sister Knot, about the life-sustaining friendship between two women, ended with two women – Thelma & Louise – who seal their friendship with a death pact. The next series, “How Old Were They?” will promote my new novel Who Cares? which is about the struggle for dignity at Woodruff Home for the Aged, “a lively place where old people go to die.” The posts will open your eyes to the amazing things people do, no matter their age, from infants to centenarians. Enjoy the new series. You can revisit all the “Famous Friends” posts as well as “Bad Dad” and “Survivor Stories” by clicking those categories. Or scroll the entire blog and enjoy whatever post you land on. Learn more about all my books in NOVELS.

Woodruff Home for the Aged, a lively place where old people go to die

How old were people when they did noteworthy things?